Card-aligning machine



Sept. 25, 1962 M. E. BAKER CARD-ALIGNING MACHINE Filed Dec. 31, 1959 INVENTOR MAX E BAKER E W 'W ATTORNEYSS United States Patent 3,055,415 Patented Sept. 25, 1962 3,055,415 CARD-ALIGNING MACHINE Max E. Baker, 343 W. 12th St, New York, NY. Filed Dec. 31, 1959, Ser. No. 863,194 1 Claim. (Cl. 156-552) This invention relates to a device for readily and accurately aligning and assembling a plurality of cards carrying lines of printed matter in a desired order to present a composite of printed matter desired on a page of a book and securing said cards in the assembled position after which the assembly of cards may be removed from the device still in assembled position and photo-reproduced apart from said device to produce a page of printed matter. After reproduction, the cards may be disassembled and retained as before assembly.

In the preparation of printed publications such as books, reports, etc., the text material is frequently based on data or information maintained on file cards. For example in the publication of periodic market reports, the publications usually contain a considerable amount of statistical data, some of which change from time to time while other data remain unchanged. Data are maintained current on file cards of any suitable size and filed in a chosen sequence.

The preparation of a market report has previously been accomplished by extracting desired cards from the files and abstracting pertinent information therefrom by typing the information onto sheets of paper to be reproduced as pages of the report. Since certain lines of data on a page change from time to time, the page had to be retyped for the next report. Thus, the preparation of the report involved the time consuming typing of all pages each time a report was published.

While certain devices have been proposed in the prior art for assembling cards having printed matter thereon, these have generally been limited in their application. In one such device, individual letters are held to a base to photograph lines of print. In another device, die-cut cards bearing a limited, definite number of lines of type are assembled on a tray after which the tray may be moved to photograph said assembly. This device has the disadvantage that a plurality of trays are required, and die-cut cards are needed. Moreover, the amount of material is limited on each card. It may thus be seen that such devices of the prior art lack flexibility and would not be practical to reproduce a plurality of card assemblies to make a number of pages from data on ordinary file cards of varying sizes.

It is an object .of this invention to provide a device for aligning and assembling cards bearing an indefinite number of lines of printed matter in a desired sequence for reproduction as a page of printed matter.

It is a further object to provide a device for making an assembly of cards bearing printed matter, which assembly may be removed intact from said device and reproduced apart from it.

Another object is to provide a device for aligning and assembling cards of varying sizes to be reproduced as a page of printed matter.

Yet another object is to provide a device for aligning and assembling cards bearing printed matter which makes use of ordinary stationers cards.

These and other objects of my invention will become apparent as the description thereof proceeds.

I have found that the above objects may be attained by the use of my invention which is a device for assembling in a desired order, ordinary stationers file cards of the same or varying sizes, carrying an indefinite number of lines of printed matter whereby the cards are secured together and the assembly may be removed from the device and photographed as a page of printed matter.

Broadly, the device comprises a rectangular tray upon which the cards are placed, having a guide strip along the left edge for aligning cards laterally to determine a uniform left margin for the finished assembly, and a guide strip along the top edge of the tray which determines the upper edge of the finished assembly, i.e. the top of the page of printed matter reproduced. A holder is provided at one end of the tray, preferably the top end for carrying a plurality of rolls of adhesive strip in such a position that the strips may be pulled across the tray, from end to end, with the adhesive side up. A clamping means is provided at the end of the tray opposite from the adhesive rolls to hold the adhesive strips fiat against the surface of the tray, so that the tray has a number of strips of adhesive extending from top edge to bottom edge with adhesive side up.

The information to be reproduced is contained on ordinary Stationers cards which are maintained in files. The data is typed on the cards with no top margin and with a uniform left margin.

In using my device, tapes are pulled from the rolls with the tacky side up to the opposite end of the tray and held there by a clamping means. Thus, there is provided a fiat surface having a number of adhesive strips thereon.

The top and bottom margins for printed matter and the bottom edge of a page may be indicated by lines marked on the tray or by movable indicators on the left edge of the tray. The tray surface may also be provided with a grid of lines. The first card is laid on the tray and positioned against the top and left edge guides. Succeeding cards are laid in overlapping manner on the previous card with left edges against the left guide. The distance between the last line on a card and the first line on the next card is determined visually by the operator. It is also possible to have tick marks of blue ink on the edges of the cards to aid in determining the distance between lines, since blue does not reproduce in photo-offset. When properly placed, each card is firmly pressed against the tape. Thus, the part of the card projecting below the previous card adheres to the tape. When a page is completed, as determined by the lower margin indicators on the tray, the tapes are cut at the top and bottom of the tray.

The cards are then in assembled position, fastened together with the tapes on the under side of the cards. The complete card assembly represents a page of printed matter and may be removed from the tray.

The operation may then be repeated, and another assembly of cards formed for another page. The card assemblies are stacked as they are produced and after all assemblies for all pages have been made, they are photoreproduced. The reproduction from each assembly becomes a printed page in a book, pamphlet or report.

Thus, publications may be current since the assemblies of cards may change with each subsequent publication It is only necessary to rearrange the cards on the machine for each report. I have found that the use of my device greatly reduces the time required for forming the pages to be reproduced. As a comparison in the formulation of one specific report, 40 pages could be produced by two abstractors typing from cards in one 7.5 hour day. Two persons Working with my machine can produce pages in the same period of time. Moreover, there is an additional saving in that the persons using the machine need not be skilled typists.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 illustrates a perspective view of one embodiment of my invention showing all parts.

FIGURE 2 illustrates an assembly of cards as produced by the machine.

Referring to the drawings, one embodiment of my in vention is described in greater detail. The machine comprises tray 1 which is rectangular in shape. Tray 1 is flat and may be made of wood, metal, plastic or any suitable rigid material. Tray 1 has an edge guide 2 at the left edge and an edge guide 3 at the top edge. These guides may be simple straight-edges and serve to align the cards laterally and to establish the top margin of a page. The upper edge of tray 1 rests on base support 4 which consists of two vertical side panels 5 and front panel 7. Panels 5 are parallel with the right and left side edges of tray 1, and panel 7 is parallel with top edge guide 3.

Panels 5 have recesses 8 to accommodate spool 9 which carries rolls of tape 10. Spool 9 is parallel to edge guide 3.

Spool 9 is illustrated as square in cross section to accommodate commercially available cartons of masking tape which have perforations on the sides of the cartons for inserting a square holder. However, this spool could also be cylindrical, or it could consist of a number of parallel rods, or any other suitable arrangement. Rolls 10 are mounted in such a manner that the adhesive side of the tape will be up when the tapes are pulled down across tray 1 and the rolls are held in place by any suitable means such as clamps 6.

Bail 11 is located near the bottom edge of tray 1 and pivots on the edges thereof. When in closed position bail 11 registers with bottom edge of tray 1 holding strips 10A from rolls 10 against tray 1.

Top and bottom margins are indicated by guide lines 12. However, slidably mounted indicators, not shown, could be provided on the left edge of tray 1. Thus, pages of varying length may be produced. Tray 1 may also be provided with grid lines, not shown.

Tape guides 14 and 15 are placed at the top edge of tray 1 for guiding the tapes as strips 10A are pulled out. The left guide 14 is fixed and the right guide 15 may be made either fixed or adjustable. In FIGURE 1, the guides serve also as the top edge guide, however, the guides could be omitted or designed otherwise, so that the first card then rests against top edge guide 3.

Cutting edges 6, may be provided at the top; and bottom if desired of tray 1 pivoted on the left edge to cut tape strips 10A after completion of a card assembly.

The lower edge of tray 1 rests on the same surface as base 4 and the tray is thus inclined towards the operator. This arrangement facilitates the work of the operator.

As shown in FIGURE 1, and as described above, cards 13 are placed in overlapping manner on tapes 10A with left edges aligned against left edge guide 2. The right edges of the cards have been illustrated as slightly raised to more clearly show the overlapping of cards. These cards actually lay flat in practice. The lowest card has been shown turned back to show the tape strips 10A underneath. FIGURE 2 illustrates the final assembly of cards 13, held by strips 10A, as removed from tray 1. The printed matter on the card assembly may be photo-reproduced to make a page of printed matter.

As described above, cards of varying sizes may be used, since they are all aligned against the left edge guide 2. The irregularity of the right edge of the assembly will not show in the photo-reproduction of the card assembly to produce the printed page.

While I have illustrated and described a specific embodiment and preferred modes of operation of my invention, it will be understood that this is solely done to enable persons skilled in the art to better understand the invention. It will be recognized that various modifications may be made and mechanical equivalents utilized for various parts of the apparatus, or that the parts may be arranged in a somewhat different manner. For example, the base 4 and spool 9 may be made of any suitable material. They may also be made of a number of parts and be adjustable in width. In addition it is entirely possible that the spool and tapes could be located at the bottom of tray 1 and the clamping means at the top. Thus, various changes and modifications may be made in my invention without departing from the spirit of the disclosure and the scope of the appended claim.

I claim:

A machine for aligning and assembling cards bearing lines of printed matter into a composite form for photoreproduction apart from said machine to produce a page of printed matter which comprises a fiat rectangular tray, aligning guides along the left and top edges of said tray, a support to maintain the top edge of said tray in a raised position, spool means positioned on said support adjacent to and parallel with said top edge for holding rolls of adhesive tape bail means at the bottom edge of said tray for clamping said tape drawn across said tray so that said tray has a plurality of strips of tape thereon with the adhesive side up and means at the top of said tray for cutting said tape strips.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,988,368 Ainsworth Jan. 15, 1935 2,067,498 Meyrowitz Jan. 12, 1937 2,527,532 Cole Oct. 31, 1950, 

